Disney's CARIBBEAN BEACH RESORT Information & Questions

[Kevin355]

Considering the resort was fully booked during Free dining they should have been prepared for crowds.

We went during free dining and there were no crowds. It has less to do with crowds and more to do with the times that people hit the parks. Although crowds do play a factor in it. Animal Kingdom is probably at it's lowest capacity during the cooler months whereas MK and Epcot are higher visited during those times.

 

[nkereina]

We went during free dining and there were no crowds. It has less to do with crowds and more to do with the times that people hit the parks. Although crowds do play a factor in it. Animal Kingdom is probably at it's lowest capacity during the cooler months whereas MK and Epcot are higher visited during those times.

I respectfully disagree, as we had an issue with overcrowded buses and bus stops at various times during the day at CBR. My experience was also during free dining when the resort was at capacity. CBR is one of the larger resorts, so inevitably if they are running the same amount of buses at the same time intervals, they're going to be crowded and leave people behind since they have more people to transport particularly when at capacity. At any time of day, potentially. In our experience, it would have made more sense to be running buses every 10-15 minutes instead of every 20, and maybe more frequently at peak times. That was not the case and resulted in large crowds gathering.

 

[oj01]

We were at CBR the week of Halloween and the resort was at capacity. It never felt overly crowded at OPR or the pool. We had no issues with the busses to the parks, sometimes boarding at OPR and sometimes Jamaica. Sometimes the bus was full coming back from the parks, notably MK after fireworks, not sure if anyone was left behind to wait for the next one.

 

[dansdad]

I respectfully disagree, as we had an issue with overcrowded buses and bus stops at various times during the day at CBR. My experience was also during free dining when the resort was at capacity. CBR is one of the larger resorts, so inevitably if they are running the same amount of buses at the same time intervals, they're going to be crowded and leave people behind since they have more people to transport particularly when at capacity. At any time of day, potentially. In our experience, it would have made more sense to be running buses every 10-15 minutes instead of every 20, and maybe more frequently at peak times. That was not the case and resulted in large crowds gathering.

They definitely dropped the ball during your trip. I remember reading your posts when you returned and was very surprised. All 6 of our trips to CBR have been during Free Dining and the resort was packed. In all of those trips we never witnessed anyone not getting on a bus to a park and noticed buses were coming every 10 minutes or so. It just proves that there can be bus issues at any resort at any time. It's one of the reasons I try to tell people not to make a resort choice on bus service alone.

Friends of ours stayed at CSR over the summer. They know I am on here often and asked if I knew/heard how the bus service is at CSR. I told them I always read good things about it, but did warn them you just never know. They came home and said the first 5 days of an 8 day trip they never waited less than 24 minutes for a bus to anywhere at any time. After the first 2 days the husband started timing it because they wanted to see if it was just perception. They almost tried to switch after day 5. Well the last 3 days of their trip, they never waited more than 7 minutes for any bus anywhere.

 

[austinsmommie]

We just returned on Monday, we checked in on 11/19. I did not find the bus service to be bad at all. We never waited more than 10 minutes for a bus, sometimes it was just 2 minutes. There was a CM at the bus stop almost everyday. He would ask where we were heading, he checked his ipad and usually said a bus will be here in 2 minutes. There was a few times the bus was full, I think they said 72 people was the limit and they sent another bus in to pick up from the other direction. When we got to one stop people were complaining to the driver that a MK bus just came (the driver explained that the bus was getting full so they dispatched another from the other direction). They did say the resort was full.
We had an issue with our room. I received a text saying we could bypass check in and head right to our room. However our room was a pirate room, not what a 8 year old princess loving little girl wants. When I went to the front desk the CM called and was told we could not be moved since it was full and we had been given an upgrade . I explained that we did not book a pirate room and my daughter was becoming upset. The CM said give me a few minutes. She went out back for several minutes, and I received another text with a new room. She came back and said, "I don't take no for an answer." That was the one and only issue we had in 12 days, and it was resolved quickly!
Even with the resort full, it never felt full. We always found a table to eat at, and chairs at the pool. The bus stop did have a lot of people at it, but everyone did get on a bus.

 

[JGoin]

Is the Pomegranate Lemonade still in the fountain drink selection at OPR??

 

[nkereina]

They definitely dropped the ball during your trip. I remember reading your posts when you returned and was very surprised. All 6 of our trips to CBR have been during Free Dining and the resort was packed. In all of those trips we never witnessed anyone not getting on a bus to a park and noticed buses were coming every 10 minutes or so. It just proves that there can be bus issues at any resort at any time. It's one of the reasons I try to tell people not to make a resort choice on bus service alone.

I agree and I'm also a firm believer that any resort can have good or bad bus service on any given day, so I don't think my own experience is how it always is at CBR. I'd be willing to give it another chance. I think we just had the wrong equation working against us - resort at capacity which was maybe not expected that time of year, coupled with bus service that was maybe understaffed as a result. I suspect Disney has a formula for running buses based on time of year, time of day, etc. The week before Thanksgiving (when we were there) is typically a slow week, so maybe the resort sell outs through them for a loop that week. Who knows!

 

[blackpearl77]

Regarding the buses, at one point in time, there was talk that the bus routes would change. There would be a bus that picked up and left from one side of the resort and another bus that would pick up and leave from the other. I haven't seen many reports that this is the case but would love for some of those whom have stayed at the resort recently report their experiences.

They did this when we were there in October. But it was only for Epcot and Hollywood Studios. They should have done it for MK since when we were waiting to go to the halloween parties the wait for a MK bus was over 30 minutes every time but every other bus would come by every 5 minutes! They were just putting up the electronic wait time signs. Are they working yet? But the buses were never crowded - going to the parks we always had a seat.

When we were there the resort was at capacity but the pool was never crowded - always found seats. The only time it felt crowded was at breakfast - they opened up shutters so people could sit in there since all the tables were full. (Maybe they always do that?)

 

[dis_guy]

Is the Pomegranate Lemonade still in the fountain drink selection at OPR??

As of Nov 15, yes! A favourite of ours as well.

 

[dpswift]

My daughter just made ADRs for our FD trip in June. It makes it seem real. Looking forward to giving CBR another chance. I am going to have her request Jamaica (45?) in a few days. I think we would have been fine if I had not gotten worried about the bridge being out.

 

[Jason'smom]

Getting worried about busses, we will be there prime time at the end of the month. We will have a car, but really want to use busses to mk. Have a 2 year old who will have his bday while we are there so we will be going early and coming back in the afternoons. I noticed that magic hours are from 7-8 at mk the whole time we are there. Do they start the busses earlier than 645 so we can get to rope drop? We paid for a preferred room...is it best to use the opr stop in the mornings?

 

[dansdad]

Getting worried about busses, we will be there prime time at the end of the month. We will have a car, but really want to use busses to mk. Have a 2 year old who will have his bday while we are there so we will be going early and coming back in the afternoons. I noticed that magic hours are from 7-8 at mk the whole time we are there. Do they start the busses earlier than 645 so we can get to rope drop? We paid for a preferred room...is it best to use the opr stop in the mornings?

Buses start rolling at 6:30AM every day. If MK has an opening of 7AM they will start rolling at 6AM. We have had multiple stays at CBR with a car and it is always in the same spot when we check out as when we checked in. Our first stay at CBR we rented a car because I was worried about the buses too. Well that was $$ wasted as we used it once to go to an early AM breakfast at Cape May at the Beach Club resort.

There is no reason to use the OPR bus stop unless it happens to be the closest one to your room or unless you are having breakfast at OPR before heading out. Otherwise just use the one closest to your room.

 

[Jason'smom]

Buses start rolling at 6:30AM every day. If MK has an opening of 7AM they will start rolling at 6AM. We have had multiple stays at CBR with a car and it is always in the same spot when we check out as when we checked in. Our first stay at CBR we rented a car because I was worried about the buses too. Well that was $$ wasted as we used it once to go to an early AM breakfast at Cape May at the Beach Club resort.

There is no reason to use the OPR bus stop unless it happens to be the closest one to your room or unless you are having breakfast at OPR before heading out. Otherwise just use the one closest to your room.

Thanks dansdad. We are driving down so it won't be a rental. But I am hoping to use the busses more this trip. 6 am is early but I'm determined to see rope drop....and not while I'm in bag check line lol.

 

[CarnesFamily]

Thanks dansdad. We are driving down so it won't be a rental. But I am hoping to use the busses more this trip. 6 am is early but I'm determined to see rope drop....and not while I'm in bag check line lol.

I may be wrong but I don't think there is the regular rope drop ceremony when there are magic hours if that is what you are wanting to see

 

[DisneyMomx7]

We were there November 28 to December 2 and I was pleasantly surprised with the bus service

I had read the horror stories, and we had previously only stayed at deluxe so I was really nervous

We liked CBR so much more than we ever thought we would!

 

[Jason'smom]

I may be wrong but I don't think there is the regular rope drop ceremony when there are magic hours if that is what you are wanting to see

I thought there was......

 

[CarnesFamily]

I thought there was......

Hopefully someone can verify... I looked at several different websites and got several different answers... Some said yes... Some said a shorten version

 

[CarnesFamily]

Hopefully someone can verify... I looked at several different websites and got several different answers... Some said yes... Some said a shorten version

http://www.disboards.com/threads/cu...d-rope-drop-procedures.3465062/#post-54769059

May or may not be full show

 

[PolyAddict]

Single digit dance this morning!

 

[DHisaDisneyScrooge]

We will be at CBR Jan 31- Feb 5.

We have 4 kids-2are two years old.

With crowds on the buses, the big double stroller that you cannot pickup with one hand, and a plan for DH or I to take the babies back for a nap each afternoon, do you suggest driving our own vehicle to and from parks or using the buses?

Parking at parks is free for resort guests, correct?

How much of a hassle is driving to and from the resorts the parks?

Thanks so much!